A hand-held chisel may be used to accomplish many different tasks. For example, in the masonry trades, a chisel may be used with a hammer to chip out portions of stone, concrete or other hard material to form a groove or other indentation in the workpiece. In the woodworking trades, a chisel may be used with a hammer in similar fashion to chip out portions of wood to form a design. A chisel may also be used in the electric power, plumbing and metalworking trades to tighten or loosen a nut on a corroded bolt or to pull a joint apart. A chisel may further be used to "pop" a rivet off of a steel girder, to break off a weld or to pry apart two pieces of metal bolted together, such as parts attached to an automobile engine block.
Occasionally, while a worker is using a hammer in an attempt to strike the chisel, the worker will miss the top of the chisel and strike his or her forearm or hand with the hammer, thus causing great pain and sometimes serious injury. No matter how careful the worker is in swinging the hammer, the worker is likely to miss the top of the chisel once in a while because of the relatively small surface areas of the chisel top and hammer end. Therefore, a need exists in the masonry, woodworking, metalworking, plumbing, electric power and other trades for a shield of some sort to protect the forearm and hand of a person from hammer blows that go astray during chiseling.
A number of shields have been developed in the prior art for the protection of specific body parts from flying objects, sunlight, extreme cold, extreme heat, or for other specialized purposes. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,390 discloses a shield for protecting the back of the hand from sunlight. U.S. Pat. No. 4,657,282 discloses a ski pole hand shield for protecting the hand from the cold. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,641,934 shows a see-through hand-held bullet-resistant shield for protecting the upper body from bullets, rocks or other objects. And U.S. Pat. No. 5,159,759 shows a debris shield for protecting a person from debris created by operation of a power saw. However, a shield suitable for protecting the forearm and hand from hammer blows during chiseling has heretofore not been available.